Pitt women earn weekend sweep at Appalachian State

File photo courtesy Pitt Athletics

Final: Pitt 7, Appalachian State 1

Box Score

📹 Lot of highlights from today!#H2P pic.twitter.com/ZRMAc3fBhN

— Pitt Women's Soccer (@Pitt_WSOC) September 13, 2020

Pitt women’s soccer (2-0) swept the pair of games at Appalachian State (0-2) to open the 2020 fall season with a 7-1 win Sunday afternoon at Ted Mackorell Soccer Stadium. With 22 points off seven goals, Pitt recorded the second-highest amount of points and goals in a single-game in program history.

“I’m extremely proud of today’s performance for our young team,” said Pitt head coach Randy Waldrum. “We challenged them to come in today with a very professional attitude after winning 4-0 Thursday. We let them know this is the way we have to grow and learn to win both at home and on the road. They did that very well today. Happy to see some players get their first career goals for Pitt during this road trip, and defensively we played well this weekend. So lots of positives and back to work on some of the areas that we need to improve on.”

Just like Thursday’s game, Leah Pais scored the first goal for Pitt in the 13th minute. On a give-and-go with Anna Rico, Pais absorbed a push by a Mountaineers defender and put the shot past the goalkeeper.

Rico recorded her first goal just two minutes later. Amanda West received a pass from Athalie Palomo at midfield, raced down the left side of the field and fed a cross into the box to Rico, who tapped it in with the side of her right foot.

Kate McKay notched her first goal as a Panther in the 32nd minute. Off a broken play from a corner kick, Chloe Minas sent a cross into the left side of the box, where McKay fought off a defender to gain control and shoot the ball into the right side of the net.

West had the Panthers’ last goal of the first half. After getting knocked down in the right side of the box to get a penalty kick, she was initially stopped on the attempt but quickly followed up by tapping the rebound into an open net.

The first Panther’s goal in the second half came off a free kick right next to the left corner. Krystyna Rytel passed it over to Bex Bartosh, who passed it back over to Rytel. Rytel sent a cross into the box to Sarah Sinnott, who settled the ball down with her body and sent an off-balanced shot to the right side of the net for her first collegiate goal.

Rico’s second goal was off another West cross in the 73rd minute. West crossed up several defenders to get to the left side of the box and found a streaking Rico on the other side who one-touched it into the right side of the net.

The last goal came with less than two minutes left. Palomo made a move to get past a defender to the left of the box and sent a cross that went off the goalkeeper. The ball bounced over to Anna Bout, who tapped it easily into an open net a few yards out for her first collegiate goal.

Pitt opens up ACC play next Thursday at home at 7 p.m. against Syracuse.

 

Notes

• The eight assists tied for second-most in a single-game (Robert Morris, Aug. 23, 2015).
• West tied Jennifer Kritch (2005-08) for the seventh-most points (35), Corina Sebesta (2003-06) for seventh-most goals (12) for 10th place in career points and Charity McClure (1997-98) and Taylor Pryce (2014-18) for sixth-most career assists (11) in program history.
• West had her sixth three-plus point game, tied with Roosa Arvas (2012-15) for second-most in program history.
• Katherine Robinson (2-0) started as Pitt’s goalkeeper, playing just the first half with two saves. Caitlyn Lazzarini made two saves and allowed the lone Mountaineers goal in the second half, which came off a rebound following a stop on a penalty kick.
• Rico recorded the first multi-goal game and Palomo got her first multi-assist game of their collegiate careers.
• Just the second time the Panthers are playing an opponent twice in a season (Rutgers, 2005), this is the first time in program history Pitt has defeated the same opponent twice in one year.
• The Panthers picked up a second road win of the season, the first since winning three times away from home in 2015.
• The Panthers had an 18-8 shots advantage.
• Bartosh’s assist on Sinnott’s goal was her first collegiate point.
• Chantelle Parker came off the bench to make her collegiate debut.

Scoring Summary

Scoring Summary

Time	Team	Description
12:54		Leah Pais (3) Assisted By: Anna Rico GOAL By PITT Pais, Leah Assist By Rico, Anna.
14:37		Anna Rico (2) Assisted By: Amanda West , Athalie Palomo GOAL By PITT Rico, Anna Assist By West, Amanda And Palomo, Athalie.
22:19		Kate McKay (1) Assisted By: Chloe Minas GOAL By PITT McKay, Kate Assist By Minas, Chloe.
31:33		Amanda West (2) PITT Amanda West PENALTY KICK MISS, Saved By Eagleston, Kerry.
59:13		Sarah Sinnott (1) Assisted By: Krystyna Rytel , Bex Bartosh GOAL By PITT Sinnott, Sarah Assist By Rytel, Krystyna And Bartosh, Bex.
72:44		Anna Rico (2) Assisted By: Amanda West GOAL By PITT Rico, Anna Assist By West, Amanda.
76:35		Lindsey Poff (1) Assisted By: Tess Cairney App St Tess Cairney PENALTY KICK MISS, Saved By Lazzarini, Caitlyn.
88:50		Anna Bout (1) Assisted By: Athalie Palomo GOAL By PITT Bout, Anna Assist By Palomo, Athalie.